Prince Alwaleed: Forbes is Defaming Saudi Arabia [VIDEO]

CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo speaks with Prince Alwaleed about the protests in Egypt, the idea that the U.S. could ultimately become an oil exporter and whether he has filed a defamation claim against Forbes. Forbes says they have not received any lawsuit yet. Prince Alwaleed in very rare interview says Forbes is ‘defaming’ his home country of Saudi Arabia in a CNBC interview.

Prince Alwaleed Video and Transcript embedded Below

we want to get reaction to what’s happening in egypt right now.one of the world’s wealthiest people, part of the saudi royalfamily, prince alwaleed bin talal has been watching the situation closely. he says middle eastern countries need evolution, not revolution. he joins me now in a cnbc exclusive to talk about that and a lot more, from the savoy hotel in london. prince alwaleed, great to have you on the program. thanks for joining us. hello, maria. always nice to be with you. always good to see you, yourhighness. let me begin with what’s happening in egypt now.you’ve been following it. what’s your perspective? well, as you know, egypt went through a revolution, and the islamic brotherhood won the election. but clearly, the islamic peopleover there have proven to be strong underground, but when itcame to the politics above ground, they have proven to be afailure. this is good news to show the real face of those who are underground. the question right now, what’s next for egypt.clearly, egypt is in turmoil, and i think that the army will have to play a role in the coming few days. what do you think about thepressure coming from the military? i mean, given the military’spressure, is that a positive or does that create all sorts ofimplications with foreigners, for example? i mean, does the relationship with the united states change given the military’s pressure here? yeah, you understand that when a country like egypt, with almost 19 million population, is in turmoil, there’s no doubt that the military has to be involved sooner or later ifthings don’t stabilize. and it doesn’t seem that the situation is on the verge of being stabilized. so there is no doubt that themilitary will have to be involved one way or another, sooner or later. we were talking with an international economist earlier,prince alwaleed, and basically she said this is a fundamentalissue throughout the middle east, and that we need to see real reform. weto see an improvement for the people in order toreally see an end to some of these demonstrations that havebeen going on now, of course, ever since the arab spring. do you think we will see that kind of evolution that you referred to earlier? yeah, i wrote several articles in the western media,advocating evolutions so no revolutions take place. and clearly, most of the arab nations that thanks god do not have a revolution, they are watching very closely what’s happening in egypt, syria, libya, and to a certain extent kenya. they’re very worried what’s happening there. they are beginning to do somereforms in their countries. so i’m also advocating peacefulevolutions rather than violent revolutions like happening rightnow in egypt. do you worry that this could happen in saudi arabia? well, if you look at the — not just saudi arabia, but all of the countries, saudi arabia, uae, kuwait, oman, they are really in peace completely. and the quality of life there is high. the economy’s doing good. having said that, there’s no country immune from what’s happening in the vicinity. so it is very important to use and capitalize on this tranquility and stability we have right now and really inject as many as possible reforms on the political, economy, and social front, so you haveimmunity from god forbid any summer revolutions or anyturmoil, god forbid. yeah, you make a very good point.meanwhile, the other story that is sidetracking this one is oil.your highness. now, oil is pushing $100 a barrel. how much of what’s happening in egypt, or throughout the middle east, broadly speaking, is a threat to the stability of oil prices? well, you know, the price for oil is a function of the stability of the middle east to a certain extent. having said that, there’s nodoubt that the production of shale oil in united states, europe, and some other countries in the world, and the actualproduction of more oil and gas in the united states, australia,and canada, is going to put more pressure on the price of oil and gas in the coming years and decades. so it’s very important f the — those countries who depend on oil, such as the members of opec, to really begin diversifying and be lessdependent on oil. what do you think of the idea that the united states could ultimately become an oil exporter? a lot of reports saying it could happen by 2020. i think this is a fact. and clearly, this is one of the tailwinds that the united states is going to be facing in the neecade, or two decades, whereby the oil and gas coming from the — the gas and oil, or the new shale oil on gasproduction is going to be a major boost to the manufacturingindustry and to the united states in general. so it’s good for united states. however, for other countries who are dependent on oil, it is very important that they take a widening look, and begin diversifying the countries that are dependent on oil. does that change the relationship with saudi arabia, if, in fact, the united states becomes an oil exporter, do you think? well, the relationship between saudi arabia and united states has been established a long — a long time ago when the king established saudi arabia, and met the president of the united states.roosevelt. so, no, the united states relationship is very strong, and it goes beyond oil. clearly, oil plays a big role in the equation. but you have to understand that saudi arabia is the — is the anchor of the islamic world, the arab world, so the relationship with saudi arabia is stronger than and being dependent only on oil. your highness, you are coming to us from the savoy hotel in london, which, of course, you own. you also own the plaza in new york, the george sank in paris, a whole host of upscale hotels. how’s the hotel business goingright now? well, it’s very clear that the hotel industry has moveddown on the corner, and now is an upside cycle. we clearly see it from our four seasons brand. all of the hotels are seeing apick up in occupancy rates and revenue for the room, so it’s very clear the cycle now is very favorable to the hotel industry, and we see it across the board all over the world. and, in fact, you’re seeing money come in from foreigners, too, obviously, in the hotel business. where’s the money coming from? well, you know, for example, we are invested with bill gates in owning the four seasons and the government is our partners in the fairmont brand. so we see a lot of interest and buying stakes in hotels and hotel management companies, and, as you know, we are involved in both hotel management and real estate part of the hotel equation. and i know the qataris are your partner. i know you did a deal with bill gates. by the way, your highness, were you surprised at the shake-up in the qatari government? i know you know the sheik very well. is that going to be a problem in the relationship? oh, not really, i just spoke to him a few days ago, and they’re very much in control. actually, i’ve called my friend bajum, and he was there during the handover of the new amir, and he left to europe. i talked to him. he’s on board. he’s very happy. and he said it’s time for new leadership, new age to take over, and really applaud qatar for this dramatic move, thatreally it will be the trend in the arab world. your highness, whether the hotel assets, your investments in the u.s., kingdom holdings’ value, your value in terms of what forbes magazine said it is was different than what you — what you are actuallyfighting with forbes, because they valued you at $20 billion, and you say